The Chapin Sisters’ Dark Harmonies Swoon L.A. Fans

With a live set at the Silverlake Lounge, the trio validate their excellent new album Lake Bottom LP with intertwined, transcendent vocals and folky plucks.

Abigail and Lily Chapin, and Jessica Craven of the Chapin Sisters played to a crowd of hip young things last night (June 5) at the Silverlake Lounge in Los Angeles, filling the intimate venue with the gloomy brilliance of their soft voices and folky instrumentation.

At one point, the crowd sat stunned as Abigail’s pipes resonated throughout the venue and cut through the silence like a knife. The trio resembled a force of bright light beaming from the stage, and sang each song with angelic ease, accentuated by the fact that all three — clad in flowing, vibrant sun dressed — recalled the woozy sentiment of The Virgin Suicides, or perhaps some romantic, Victorian-era period piece.

Opening with a version of the Culture Club’s “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me,” the ladies continued forth with “Kill Me Now” and the folksy “Let Me Go,” both off their debut record Lake Bottom LP, which they recorded with producers Thom Monahan (Devendra Banhart) and Mike Daly.

Monahan was “someone who had more of an avant-garde approach to recording,” Lily told SPIN.com post performance, later explaining his methods resembled a live session. “Sometimes that could be challenging for us, bringing the energy of a live show into a studio, but that was one of the things Thom was great at — finding a way to make it feel like we were performing live.” And with last night’s spot-on, transcendent performance, the excellence of band’s new album comes into clear view.

We asked: The Chapin Sisters covered “Borderline” in a recent collection honoring Madonna. What song would you sing as a tribute to the Chapin Sisters and why?

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